Casinos have performed well in earnings this quarter
You’d have to look far and wide to find an area of Wall Street not rattled by tariffs. But some sectors are at least insulated, for now, from the coming storm. Back in November, brick-and-mortar casinos saw their commercial gaming revenue fall year-over-year.
Someone forgot to tell Boyd Gaming (BYD), with the casino company last week reporting a top-line beat for the fourth-quarter. Plus, sector peer Las Vegas Sands (LVS) gapped higher by 11.1% the week prior after a fourth-quarter revenue beat overshadowed an earnings miss.
This is a great sign for Wynn Resorts, Ltd. (NASDAQ:WYNN), set to report fourth-quarter earnings after the close today. WYNN’s post-earnings history is rocky; the shares have finished lower after five of their last eight reports, including a 9.3% drawdown in November. For Friday’s trading, the options market is pricing in a post-earnings move of 7.3%, regardless of direction, which is much higher than the stock’s average next-day move of 4% in the last two years.
Wynn stock is down 6.7% in 2025, and since October has been stuck in a channel of lower lows. Nevertheless, options traders have been loading up on calls. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), WYNN's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 6.85 ranks higher than 96% of readings from the past 12 months.
WYNN has short squeeze potential, with short interest up 25.5% in the last month and a healthy 7.5% of the stock’s total available float sold short. But the shares are down 23.7% year-over-year, with a confluence of moving averages overhead.
Options look to be an attractive route to go when weighing in on the stock. The equity's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits up at 97 out of 100, a boon for premium buyers.